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Academic Couple to Join UConn Faculty from Temple

Talk with Lewis Gordon and Jane Anna Gordon and you will find quickly that relationships matter. Not just between two scholars who pursue different disciplines and find common ground for collaboration, but in the world at large.

The two scholars, who are married, will arrive in Storrs next summer from Temple University where Lewis, a renowned philosophy professor, and Jane, a political science theorist who is a prolific writer, independently teach and conduct research but also have collaborated as the leaders of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought and the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies.

They each raise issues across multiple disciplines in seeking to find answers on what they consider fundamental questions about race, society, and how human beings relate to each other. Lewis Gordon, whose mother is Jamaican of Sephardic and Mizrahi descent, focuses much of his writing on race and racism, Africana and black existentialism and postcolonial phenomenology. Jane Gordon, whose family is Jewish and who grew up visiting family living in apartheid South Africa , specializes in social and political theory, contemporary slavery, and black political thought.

“One of the things that connects all my work is that everything I do and write about comes down to the question of what it means to be a human being,” says Lewis Gordon, who earned his doctoral degree at Yale. “Because of that, although my Ph.D. is in philosophy, that’s a question that really deals with the human condition, so my work has had an impact across what could be called the human sciences.”

His work as the founder of the Second Chance Program at Lehman High School in the Bronx (N.Y.), which focused on teaching children thought to be too troubled and difficult to educate, led him to pursue his Ph.D. to further examine human potential. The students at Lehman – thought to be so difficult to teach – succeeded in large part because of the confidence instilled in them through the program.

“The intriguing question is this: If most human beings know they are human beings, why is it that when they are not treated like human beings, they deteriorate, but when they are treated as human beings with respect, dignity, and these things that are of great importance to philosophical reflection, they grow?” he says. “It struck me that a fundamental question to address is the meaning of human potential.”

Join us for a talk by Gina Barreca,2018 UCONN BOARD OF TRUSTEESDISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

All great works of fiction, poetry and dramaâas well as texts forming mythologies, religions, national epics to heroic sagasâhave loneliness at the heart of their narrative. From Persephone to Peter Pan, from âFrankensteinâ to âFrozen,â the stories we pass along are saturated with unwilling isolation.âOnly around half of Americans say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions,â according to a 2017 study. A former U.S. Surgeon General argues that âWe live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.â We need more than social media. We need social contact. We need community. How can we break through the loneliness barrier? Being alone when in need of companionship is more than sad; itâs an epidemic.Chronic loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We need to change our national story and, often, our personal ones as well.Even the concept of the âlone wolfâ is a myth. Wolves hunt in packs.

Reception to follow.

For more information about this event, or if you are an individual who requires special accommodation to participate, please contact the CLAS Deanâs Office at (860) 486-2713.

A liberal arts and sciences degree prepares students with the tools they need to excel across a wide range of careers. Given the number of options available to you, it can be overwhelming to narrow down career choices. Attending CLAS Career Night will provide you exposure to career opportunities for CLAS students.

This semesterâs focus will be on research-based careers. During this event you will engage with CLAS alumni, learn about various occupations, and gain insight about how to best prepare for your future career.

The McNair Scholars Program and the Office of Undergraduate Research invite you to join us for a brown bag research seminar.

Birds, Bacteria, and Bioinformatics: Why Evolutionary Biology is the Best

Sarah Hird, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

This series is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, and is designed especially for students conducting (or interested in conducting) STEM research. These seminars are opportunities to learn about research being pursued around campus, to talk with faculty about their path into research, and to ask questions about getting involved in research.

About CLAS

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the academic core of learning and research at UConn. We are committed to the full spectrum of academics across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. We give students a liberal arts and sciences education that empowers them with broad knowledge, transferable skills, and an ability to think critically about important issues across a variety of disciplines.